Tampa Prep 2009-2010 Impact Defense File
Ext #4 – Racism Declining
Download 2.71 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- 4. Obama solved the biggest internal link to racism McWhorter 08 (
- 5. We don’t need to prove the status quo is perfect – all we need to win is that racism is and will decline to some extent now enough to mitigate their impacts.
Ext #4 – Racism Declining1. Current events – election of Obama and nomination of Sotomayor proves that minorities are able to advance in society without letting race be an issue. 2. Less people are experiencing racism now Oakes 05, ( Daniel, Law Student, Published in “the Daily Bruin, Consider it: Racism is truly declining , http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/stories/2005/feb/7/consider-it-racism-is-truly-de/) The Bruin’s editorial board is troubled that “only” 22.7 percent of freshmen think that racial discrimination is a problem (“Study results on students’ racial views are worrying,” Feb. 4). I imagine they’d be really miffed at the Time/CNN (hardly a bastion of conservatism) study that revealed that 89 percent of black teens reported “little or no” racism in their lives. When white people fail to show much concern over racism, it’s easy to simply label them racist. I suppose when black teens do the same thing, we can label them ignorant. Much better than giving credence to their firsthand experiences. In regard to this “troubling” poll, I came up with a bizarre explanation. Maybe, just maybe, the decline in the number of students who believe that racial discrimination is a problem is not a reflection of ignorance and apathy on the part of complacent students. Maybe it’s a sign that racism is significantly less of a problem than it was in 1994, when the previous poll was taken. I know, I’m talking crazy here. Maybe those 89 percent of black teens are right. Now, this notion does not sell many newspapers, and it doesn’t help politicians in minority-heavy voting districts who love to ride racism into office. But when we get past students, academics and politicians, and when we get to people who have held private-sector jobs, people see something new. Maybe they realize that companies are so terrified of lawsuits that many of them lock their pay scales based purely on seniority, encourage diversity for good PR or social concerns and basically bend over backward to avoid not only impropriety, but the appearance thereof. But that’s certainly a story too frightening to tell here. Even in the context of a race-blind admissions process at UC campuses, there are still diversity scholarships and companies at job fairs that actively promote diversity. Now, one thing that equal opportunity will never do is guarantee equal results across groups. This is good news (pun intended) for the Daily Bruin, because any time there are unequal results, an intrepid reporter is free to infer that there must have been unequal opportunities. However, this produces at least two negative consequences. One is rather minor, and the other is rather major. The minor one, dear God, is tiresome. No matter how many days go by that you treat everyone you run into exactly alike, regardless of race, you can just about always open up a newspaper and read about how pervasive racism is. The major problem, though, is even more significant. There are minorities in elementary school through high school, and they are bombarded with messages of racism. They are told that white America is out to get you. They are told it almost doesn’t matter what you do, because the system is rigged and you’re pretty much screwed no matter what you do. It’s unfortunate that in the haste to get this message out, another message is ignored – there is unbelievable opportunity in this country. If you work hard and make good choices, you have a fantastic chance to succeed. And African and Latino/a and Asian Americans prove it every day, just like their white counterparts. We can see evidence of success among Asian Americans after previously stifled greatly by racist diversity policies, skyrocketed when those policies were lifted. Of course, we never see mention of the great benefit that accrued to this minority once the emphasis was on achievement, not diversity. Asian American students, not white students, were the ones most helped by Proposition 209. Personally, I’m encouraged by the 89 percent of black teens who are getting through their lives experiencing little or no racism. What’s troubling to me is not the 22.7 percent of freshmen who don’t think it’s a problem; I’m troubled by an editorial board that shoves racism down everyone’s throat even after the overwhelming majority of the most historically oppressed group in American history disclaims its existence in their lives.Proposition 209 was passed. Asian American enrollment, previously stifled greatly by racist diversity policies, skyrocketed when those policies were lifted. Of course, we never see mention of the great benefit that accrued to this minority once the emphasis was on achievement, not diversity. Asian American students, not white students, were the ones most helped by Proposition 209. 3. History proves – the 13th amendment and Brown vs. Board of Education prove society is self-correcting. Even if the plan might be key to stopping racism, that’s not to say endorsing the status quo now entrenches racism forever. 4. Obama solved the biggest internal link to racism McWhorter 08 (John, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Racism in Retreat, New York Sun, http://www.nysun.com/opinion/racism-in-retreat/79355/) In any case, to insist that we are hamstrung until every vestige of racism, bias, or inequity is gone indicates a grievous lack of confidence, which I hope any person of any history would reject. Anyone who intones that America remains permeated with racism is, in a word, lucky. They have not had the misfortune of living in a society driven by true sociological conflict, such as between Sunnis and Shiites, Hutus and Tutsis — or whites and blacks before the sixties. It'd be interesting to open up a discussion with a Darfurian about "microaggressions." To state that racism is no longer a serious problem in our country is neither ignorant nor cynical. Warnings that such a statement invites a racist backlash are, in 2008, melodramatic. They are based on no empirical evidence. Yet every time some stupid thing happens — some comedian says a word, some sniggering blockhead hangs a little noose, some study shows that white people tend to get slightly better car loans — we are taught that racism is still mother's milk in the U.S. of A. "Always just beneath the surface." Barack Obama's success is the most powerful argument against this way of thinking in the entire four decades since recreational underdoggism was mistaken as deep thought. A black man clinching the Democratic presidential nomination — and rather easily at that — indicates that racism is a lot further "beneath the surface" than it used to be. And if Mr. Obama ends up in the White House, then it might be time to admit that racism is less beneath the surface than all but fossilized. I know, I don't know what they'll do to him now. Let's just wait and see. 5. We don’t need to prove the status quo is perfect – all we need to win is that racism is and will decline to some extent now enough to mitigate their impacts. Directory: files -> documents documents -> North Mankato Taylor Library documents -> In the Red and Brown Water documents -> - documents -> I. Disaster Summary Sheet II. Tropical Cyclones documents -> Cbp and Trade Automated Interface Requirements Appendix: pga december 22, 2015 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> Cartographic Concepts for Realizing a Location Based umts service documents -> 1/ Background Statistics Human development index rank Download 2.71 Mb. Share with your friends:
|